Women Tip Their Own March Into Madness
ESPN Outlets To Televise All 63 Tournament Games
By Mike Reynolds -- Multichannel News, 3/22/2008 3:18:00 AM
With four upsets breaking brackets wide open on the men’s side, the ladies’ now get their turn to get in on the Madness.
For the sixth consecutive year, ESPN and its various
arms will cover the women’s march to college basketball Valhalla, or in this year’s case, Tampa, televising all 63 games from the NCAA Division 1 women’s basketball tournament. The action, tipping off today at noon (ET) will extend well past midnight, as 16 games in five windows will be presented in whip-around fashion on ESPN2.
During the first-and second- rounds, ESPN and ESPN2 will present 48 games within 13 telecast windows, while out-of-market package ESPN Full Court will offer complete game telecasts of all 48 games.
The final 15 games from the regional semifinals, regional finals and women’s Final Four will appear in national telecast windows on ESPN or ESPN2. ESPN will air the semifinal games (7 p.m. and 9 p.m. starts) and championship contest (8:30 p.m.) from the St. Petersburgh Times Forum on Sunday April 6 and April 8.
For the first-time, broadband service ESPN360.com will stream complete coverage of all 63 games, while college sports channel ESPNU will provide supplemental coverage during the first and second rounds. ESPNU will offer eight of the early-round matchups, all of which are also offered regionally and/or as part of whip-around coverage on ESPN or ESPN2.
Tournament coverage will also extend to SportsCenter, ESPN.com, ESPNews, ESPN Radio and ESPN Mobile TV’s ScoreCenter and ReSet.
Starting with the regional semifinals, ESPN and ESPN2 will offer every game in high-definition In addition to the Final Four, all four regional sites and women’s basketball studio specials will be available on either ESPN HD or ESPN2 HD.
Trey Wingo returns to host all of ESPN’s studio coverage for the tourney, alongside analysts, former college stars and WNBAers Kara Lawson Stacey Dales. Doris Burkewill join them in studio during the first and second rounds and will then serve as a game analyst from the regional rounds through the national championship.
On April 6 and 8, Wingo, Dales and Lawson will take their show on the road, hosting the network’s two on-site studio programs from St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa. Carolyn Peck will also provide updates from Tampa for ESPNews.
Mike Patrick and Burke will call the Final Four and championship games, assisted by Rebecca Lobo and Holly Rowe.
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